Investigations by archeologists and historians has led them to conclude that when the town was conquered by the Spanish, it was ruled by a man named Guayaquile.

[citation needed] Guayaquil was founded on 25 July 1538[7] by Spanish conqueror Francisco de Orellana in the location of a native village.

[citation needed] In 1709, English captains including Woodes Rogers and William Dampier, along with a crew of 110, looted Guayaquil and demanded ransom.

[citation needed] In colonial times Guayaquil was the chief Spanish shipyard in the Pacific, although some navigators considered that Valdivia (now in Chile) had better conditions.

[13] On 9 October 1820, almost without bloodshed, a group of civilians, supported by soldiers from the "Granaderos de Reserva" battalion quartered in Guayaquil, led by the Peruvian Colonel Gregorio Escobedo, overwhelmed the resistance of the Royalist guards and arrested the Spanish authorities.

[citation needed] On 26 July 1822, generals José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar held a meeting in Guayaquil to plan how to complete achieving the independence of Perú and, with it, all of Spanish South America.

[citation needed] In 1860, the city was the site of the Battle of Guayaquil, the last of a series of military conflicts between the forces of the Provisional Government, led by Gabriel García Moreno and General Juan José Flores, and the forces of the Supreme Chief of Guayas, General Guillermo Franco, whose government was recognized as possessing sovereignty over the Ecuadorian territory by Peruvian president Ramón Castilla.

Most commerce consists of small and medium businesses, adding an important informal economy occupation that gives thousands of guayaquileños employment.

Guayaquil plays an important role in Ecuador's economy as the commercial heart of the country, and is also a vibrant, sprawling city, urban, cultural and touristic.

[19] Here are some of the tourist attractions in Guayaquil: Its geographical location makes it the gateway to the Galapagos Islands and it has won several World Travel Awards.

[34] In August 2006, the city's first rapid transit bus system, Metrovía, opened to provide a quicker, high-capacity service.

In 2013, the national government led by Rafael Correa built two pedestrian bridges connecting downtown Guayaquil, Santay Island, and the town of Durán, to allow people to make ecotourism trips and return the same day.

Guayaquil faces major earthquake threats due to its soil stratigraphy and location on the ring of fire and the south of the North-Andean subduction zone.

[36] The city can be easily damaged by earthquakes as its weak and compressible soil is composed of deep soft sediments over hard rocks and deposits in a brackish environment.

[37] The tsunami threat is caused by the nearby Gulf of Guayaquil which also is one of the major locations on the Earth where earthquakes tend to happen all the time.

A bridge that was above a major artery, Avenida de las Americas, collapsed in the early evening on that day, killing two people.

Between January and April, the climate is hot and humid with heavy rainfall, especially during El Niño years when it increases dramatically and flooding usually occurs.

The rest of the year (from May through December), however, rainfall is minimal due to the cooling influence of the Humboldt Current, with usually cloudy mornings and afternoons, and evening breezes.

During breakfast, patacones and bolon (fried plantain with cheese mashed and given a rounded shape) play a big role.

Chifa or Chinese-Ecuadorian dishes like arroz chaufa, tallarin saltado, and sopa Fui Chi Fu are common fast food options.

The city is the birthplace of Francisco Segura Cano; and Andrés Gómez and Nicolás Lapentti, Ecuador's two most successful tennis players, now both retired.

Among Guayaquil's major trading points are the seaport, the largest in Ecuador and one of the biggest handlers of shipping on the shores of the Pacific; and José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport.

José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport, though using the same runways, had its passenger terminal completely rebuilt in 2006 and was renamed.

[46] The Empresa de Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos offers tourist rail service to Quito from the neighboring city of Durán, Ecuador, located across the Guayas River from Guayaquil.